July 1st marks the first day of Plastic Free July, a global movement founded to help inspire and challenge people be part of the solution to the plastic pollution crisis we are facing.

In the last 10 years, we have produced more plastic than during the whole of the 20th century (300 million tonnes every year!), with high-income countries generating the most plastic waste per person. Only 10% of this is recycled, almost half is thrown away after the first use and 12 million tonnes of it head straight into our precious oceans. 

We’ve dug down into the recycling statistics and we are not impressed. Even choosing biodegradable plastic as an alternative comes with its own challenges, it often requires very specific industrial environments to decompose safely! So it seems clear that reducing our individual plastic consumption is the best way of making an impact, the less we tolerate and accept plastics the more pressure will be put on huge companies to change the way they package and process products. Consumer power is real!

The Wild Fawn Team are committed to not bringing any unnecessary plastic into the studio for the month of July and beyond! Emma is going to schedule a weekly cycle to her local plastic free shop, so that it is part of her routine. Nilly has bought herself a new glass water bottle and charcoal water filter so she can chose tap water over bottled. Molly is going to address her excessive crisp consumption and stop buying individual packets, and Rebecca will continue to visit her local farmers market to avoid unnecessary plastic wrapping, as well as spending longer in the supermarket choosing products that have reusable or 100% recyclable packaging.

If going completely plastic free seems daunting, why not just pick one thing you can do? Baby steps in the right direction are better than no steps at all! Then once you’ve nailed that, you can pick another, and another, and another. 

 A few easy and simple ideas to help reduce your plastic consumption:

• Give up drinks bottles, including buying bottles of concentrate or squash (your teeth will thank you too!).
• Choose teabags that are biodegradable and ditch the takeaway coffee cup, by keeping your reusable travel mug firmly by your side at all times.
• Carry a reusable shopping bag with you everywhere you go (so even a sustainable impulse buy can’t catch you out with the need for silly plastic!)
• Say no to receipts and straws.
• Choose a local milk delivery service who bring you fresh pints in glass that can be returned.
• Buying shampoos in bulk or switching to plastic free shampoo bars.

No matter how small your change is, you are helping the bigger picture. Sign up to Plastic Free July with The Plastic Free Foundation here:

 https://www.plasticfreejuly.org/take-the-challenge/

Resources we found helpful and inspiring:

https://www.plasticfreejuly.org

https://www.sas.org.uk/our-work/plastic-pollution/

https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution

Gale, J., 2021. The Sustainable (ish) Guide to Green Parenting: Guilt-free eco-ideas for raising your kids. Bloomsbury Publishing.